rd, it
became necessary to shew the divine Displeasure, not in the ordinary
Manner, by Judgment and Reproofs of such kind as usually reclaim Men,
but by a general Destruction to sweep them away, clear the Earth of
them, and put an End to the Wickedness at once, removing the Offence and
the Offenders all together; this is signify'd at large, Gen. vi. 5. _God
saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every
Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually._ And
again ver. 11, 12. _The Earth also was corrupt before God; and the
Earth was fill'd with Violence. And God look'd upon the Earth and
behold it was corrupt; for all Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the
Earth._

It must be confess'd it was a strange Conquest the _Devil_ had made in
the Antediluvian World, that he had, as I may say, brought the whole
Race of Mankind into a general Revolt from God; _Noah_ was indeed a
Preacher of Righteousness, and he had preach'd about 500 Years to as
little Purpose as most of the good Ministers ever did; for we do not
read there was one Man converted by him, or at least not one of them
left, for that at the Deluge there was either none of them alive, or
none spar'd but _Noah_ and his three Sons, and their Wives; and even
they are ('tis evident) recorded, not so much to be sav'd for their own
Goodness, but because they were his Sons; Nay, without Breach of Charity
we may conclude, that at least one went to the _Devil_ even of those
three, namely, _Ham_ or _Cham_ for triumphing in a brutal Manner over
his Father's Drunkenness; for we find the Special Curse reach'd to him
and his Posterity for many Ages; and whether it went no farther than the
present State of Life with them, we cannot tell.

We will suppose now that thro' this whole 1500 Years the Devil having so
effectually debauch'd Mankind, had advanc'd his infernal Kingdom to a
prodigious Height; for the Text says, _the whole Earth was fill'd with
violence_; in a Word, Blood, Murder, Rape, Robbery, Oppression and
Injustice prevail'd every where, and Man, like the wild Bear in the
Forest, liv'd by Prey, biting and devouring one another.

At this Time _Noah_ begins to preach a new Doctrine to them, for as he
had before been a Preacher of Righteousness, now he becomes a Preacher
of Vengeance; first he tells them they shall be all overwhelm'd with a
Deluge, that for their Sins God repented they were made, and that
he would destroy them all, add